In The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Thomas Friedman gives a couple of wonderful examples of people who are outstanding examples of authenticity in the form of spokespersons for their product. These people are so authentically engaging that they make you go out of your way to buy their product. The first is a lemonade vendor who works the lower deck at Camden Yards during Baltimore Orioles home games. He has, as Friedman describes it, "perfected a dance routine around how he shakes and prepares the lemonade. He does a little jig and then high-fives you before he hands you the drink."

Whole Lotta Shaking

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Lemonade Shakin Guy

by Gary Tharaldson

SP: Marc, please give our readers a little background information about yourself?

MR: I graduated from the Univ. of Maryland. I worked at Club Med for 2 years...during the day I taught snorkeling and at night I worked private parties for 6 hours at a time. I was the choreographer of Guests of Club Med.
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Vendor knows how to shake up a crowd

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Baseball's best players have nothing on its vendors

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O's Icon to Be at All-Star Game

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Character Study

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All shook up!

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Lemonade guy is all shook up!

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Shakin' in the New Year!

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MARC ROSENBERG, LEMONADE VENDOR

Once, Marc Rosenberg was just like any other lemonade vendor prowling the upper decks. He hustled, though, and was promoted to the third-base side lower boxes. Then, on a humid 98-degree Baltimore day, with every kid in his section screaming for a lemonade, the inspiration came.

"I put the tray down", Rosenberg remembers, and I started flipping out.

Now, Marc Rosenberg, 34, is the Lemonade-Shaking guy. His sktick is a Jumbotron staple-a frenzied seizure of a dance routine that accompanies every freshly shaken lemonade he serves. (Well, almost every one: About five percent of his customers, Rosenberg says, "don't want the shaking.") Rosenberg works the crowd tirelessly, exhorting kids to jump up and convulse around in the aisle with him. "I want to make it like a party every night," he says.

He'll lose about five to six pounds per game on a warm night. It's a small price to pay for his new slot on the prime first-base side. But Rosenberg knows that he needs to keep the routine fresh; this season he promises several innovations. "I got fake teeth, I got wigs, I got funky glasses," he says. "I'm going for shock value."

Photo Caption:
Most people who attend baseball games at Camden Yards have probably seen Marc Rosenberg. Mr. Rosenberg doesn't just hand over the lemonade he sells at local sports venues, bar mitzvahs and corporate functions, but he does a bizarre drink-mixing routine, performs like a stand-up comedian and promotes general crowd craziness. The 37-year-old Owings Mills resident is incorporated as "Lemonade Shaking Guy Inc.," and has worked the stands at Orioles games since 1997

Who Asked You?

Will your act suffer next year without Cal Ripken Jr.?

"Look, I'm a diehard black-and-orange, but we've been very fortunate to have Cal for 21 years. He's moving on, so you have to be excited for his next step. We want to win the World Series every year, but that's not in our control. Now getting a smile on every face in the crowd, with or without Cal, that's in my control."

Shake, Rattle and Sell

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Excerpted from
Outside Pitch

Issue 10 No. 9

All Juiced Up

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